My Miniature Garden.....again

Around fifteen years ago my husband built a little stone cottage for me with stones collected from a mountain near my old home in Wales. He thatched the roof, destroying three bristle brooms in the process, and then we had the fun of creating the garden.

Finding suitable plants wasn’t easy until we found a nursery in Devon that specialised in miniatures. My best buy was a miniature rose called “Sim”. Unlike many miniature roses this remained very tiny and flourished for many years.

We added other plants and cropped them to ensure that they were is some sort of proportion. The lawn was real grass!

The little garden gave us pleasure for a very long time but Time and Nature intervened. The little cottage is dilapidated; the rose has gone, as has the lawn, and the shrubs that are left are far too big.

Maybe one day we’ll have another attempt at restoring our lost garden……maybe!

(I wrote about this garden way back in 2014 so I hope you’ll forgive the duplication, as it were. I am clearing photos from my PC and came across this one. )

Karen; It gave us a lot of pleasure but sadly we no longer have the time or the energy to re-plant. True miniatures are not easy to find. Now that's a gap in the market! Alpines grow far too big.

Stera: Thought you might! I sent that image in to one of the Weeklies and I had to re-submit it with yours truly posed nearby armed with a miniature fork! This was to show the scale of the little garden. I was paid £75, so the effort was worth it. :O)

Eirlys it's lovely to see it again, your hubby made a lovely job even if the brooms suffered to make the roof, when out and about one often sees old cottages and often they look enchanting, I bet yours still has its charm about it..

We saw the stone cottages at the Devon nursery. They cost £250. We bought a book on how to build them, reduced from £12.99 to £5 at the till!!

Stera: The base is Purbeck stone from Landers quarry near Swanage. Just checked : they're still there.( Let us buy a large Ammonite to incorporate in our fireplace: the former is even older than yours truly!! :O) The base is part of a barbecue area so we can never move it!

Wilrose : Maybe next year. I've been researching miniature plants. The Americans plant these in their "fairy gardens".

LincsLass: I think the cottage will have to stay as it is now. Could always add a "For Sale" to the door!

Stera: . Just read ammonites were around 65 million years ago. They're not rare. Little ones can be found on the beach. Ours is about 12 -18 inches across.

We had some interesting facts about Dorset smugglers from the quarry owner.
The smugglers in charge of the beach and the land-based network were Landers and Tubmen.
There used to be an underground passageway from the quarry down to the beach , he told us.
They discovered Dinosaur footprints there and these were donated to museums.

We did grow dwarf trees once upon a time but have culled them the last few years. Sold all our pots and containers also! Still love them but have to accept that we are now too old to give up so much time to them.

I am replying even later than you, Siris! Haven't been to Dancing Ledge for years. It was a long trek down and an arduous one making our way home.
Langton Matravers: well worth a visit and Landers Quarry if around that region.